February Magical Family Adventures!!~ LAST DAY!! (6/5)

[Blueyed Girl]

Sorry I haven't been on here in a day or two. I did see about that new promotion/discount yesterday. I decided to call in and see if I could apply it to my existing ressie's. I was on hold for 30 minutes but it was totally worth it!! I knocked $897 off of my existing trip....no downgrades or anything. PLUS, I also got the $200 gift card!!

I was FREAKING OUT last night after I got off the phone. So very cool to get discounts.

As for the Pirate & Princess party.... According to allears the tickets were supposed to go on sale today. I went to the Disney web site and....NOTHING. I went back to allears and it now says it's unknown when they will go on sale. I hope they are adding more dates!!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

That is good to hear it changed last year. Hopefully it does the same this year

So, are you now a travel agent for Disney world? SOmething you do from your home? How does that work? If you afraid you get into trouble for going OT on here, you can Pm me. Thanks

I hope it does too!

See post #1.

In case you haven't read about it -- there is a rumor circulating that WDW is releasing pretty substantial discounts for travel dates from the end of January through June at 5:00pm today. Keep your fingers crossed!

I saw that!! See my update above. I GOT IT!!

According to allearsnet and a thread on this site the parties won't start until Feb. 20th. Hopefully the official announcement will say something different.

I hope it's different too.

I am with you girl!!!!! I sure hope its when we are down there!!!!!! If I see anything soon, I will let you know and you do the same!!

Crossing my fingers!!
I sure will!

I just saw the same thing on Mousesavers last nite.

There is a thread circulating around here with the inside scoop.

Forget exact details, but supposed to be January 4-June 27th I believe.

Smething like book 4 nights, get 3 nights free


Buy 4 day tickets, get 3 free

I know I am not entirely right, but that is what I can recal1 at the moment

Come on 5'oclock

See my update above. I GOT THE DISCOUNT!!
This is the first time one of these discounts has ever worked for me!

 

[Charleston Princess]

See my update above. I GOT THE DISCOUNT!!
This is the first time one of these discounts has ever worked for me!

Hurray!!! It is the first time a discount has ever worked for me, too, so I think I am doubly excited because of it! We were able to upgrade to Beach Club for the same price we were going to pay at Caribbean Beach -- woo hoo!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Hurray!!! It is the first time a discount has ever worked for me, too, so I think I am doubly excited because of it! We were able to upgrade to Beach Club for the same price we were going to pay at Caribbean Beach -- woo hoo!

Oh WOW, that is AWESOME!!!!! I would love to try the Beach Club.

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Blue !! Great savings for you!!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Hi Blue !! Great savings for you!!

Hi Rosie!

you should call and apply it to your trip too! I think it's good until June.

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Some of you may remember about my "park goals" from my last couple of PTR's. I’m not big on setting a rock solid plan for inside the parks. However, I do have “goals”. Whether we meet them or not is no biggie.....ok, sometimes it is but you know what I mean.

I think we should do everything at least once at some point. This time we are focusing on trying at least 2-3 new things in each park. (things we've never done. not necessarily NEW things.) This will be DS's 4th trip and he's only 4 years old. When I was a kid I couldn't have imagined getting to go to WDW more than once in a lifetime. That is just how most people around here thought of WDW back then.....a once in a lifetime trip. DH had never been as a child. After we were married a few years and I got my first "real" job, I used my first paycheck to secure us a trip to Walt Disney World. That was in June of 1997. I feel very lucky for this to be my 6th trip in a lifetime. I know some people have been MANY more times than that. If it all goes away tomorrow, I will still feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I've been able to go this many times. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have shared this many times with my own family too.

Main Street USA: We don't usually take our time on Main Street. I plan on doing more shopping and looking around. Maybe even get an ice cream cookie sandwich if it's not too cold outside. Scottny highly recommends these and I still haven't bought one!

Rides/Shows: I would say that we pretty much want to try to get to every ride/show in the MK except for the tiki room and stitch's great escape. That is 2 attractions that we don't feel the need or want to do again. We were planning on doing the Hall of Presidents but will have to miss it since it is being refurbished. DH has never seen it and I haven't seen it since the early 80's! Guess we will have to wait even longer.

With all of that being said, here is a list of the things we may add into our usual park goals. That's the lovely thing about February. Shorter lines and you can fit more into a day!

Liberty Belle Riverboat- since we've never done this. Each trip DS asks about it but we usually move his attention to other rides.
country bear jamboree- I haven't done this since the 80's either, which means DH and DS have never seen it.
Astro Orbiter- Depends on how long the line is. We've never done it and would like to try it out. DS may or may not do this one. He's sort of iffy about heights.
TINKERBELLE!!!- This one is actually pretty high on my list. I hope the lines aren't too long.

FOOD:

As mentioned before, we have ADR's for breakfast at Crystal Palace one morning. I'm planning on possibly making a dinner ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern one evening.

Counter Service: We've done Cosmic Rays before. The chicken is pretty good. We also like Columbia Harbour House. So, depending on what side of the park we are on around lunch time, is which one we will go to. We like to make things as easy as possible.

That sum's up our "goals" for MK. We usually try to fit in pretty close to EVERYTHING when we go in February because.....well, because we can!

I will leave you with a couple of past trip pics:

DH on Dumbo last February...

DIS MEET!!! Rosie, Jordan, & me last February...

Jordan, Flat Winkers, Pirate Pete, & Me....

DH & DS driving the Indy cars last February....

Next up....EPCOT PARK GOALS!

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Blue loved the update I think I may steal your style of what I want to do at each park!! Good News I agree about the Tikki room once was enough I think I will borrow/steal your park touring plans I like that a lot Also Stitch isn't a big favorite either!
Good News I saved $271 on my package with the code !!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Hi Blue loved the update I think I may steal your style of what I want to do at each park!! Good News I agree about the Tikki room once was enough I think I will borrow/steal your park touring plans I like that a lot Also Stitch isn't a big favorite either!
Good News I saved $271 on my package with the code !!

Oh Rosie that is such GOOD NEWS!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

[winkers]

Your goals look great! There's several things we haven't gotten to either, that I want to try to do this time.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Great goals!!! I would have to agree about Stitch's Great Escape -- for some weird reason my DS loves it though. Maybe we can steer him past it quickly next year!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Your goals look great! There's several things we haven't gotten to either, that I want to try to do this time.

Thanks. I can't wait to give it all another try. There are new things to do this year plus old things we've never tried.

Great goals!!! I would have to agree about Stitch's Great Escape -- for some weird reason my DS loves it though. Maybe we can steer him past it quickly next year!

DS has never asked to see it, thank goodness. It's really a stinker plus it may scare him and then he won't want to do anything for a few days. I am not about to let that happen over a little alien!!

 

[Trentmom]

Sorry I haven't been on here in a day or two. I did see about that new promotion/discount yesterday. I decided to call in and see if I could apply it to my existing ressie's. I was on hold for 30 minutes but it was totally worth it!! I knocked $897 off of my existing trip....no downgrades or anything. PLUS, I also got the $200 gift card!!

I was FREAKING OUT last night after I got off the phone. So very cool to get discounts.

As for the Pirate & Princess party.... According to allears the tickets were supposed to go on sale today. I went to the Disney web site and....NOTHING. I went back to allears and it now says it's unknown when they will go on sale. I hope they are adding more dates!!

That is great!! What an awesome savings

Great goals for MK

I do not care for Stitch ride either. Does nothing for me. DS has never seen Country Bear Jamboree, might have to hit that up once just so he can see it

 

[mickeysmyboy]

great savings!!! The new deal worked for us too and we saved a boat load!!! Plus, we get to stay extra days now!!! I hope everything works out with Pirates and Princesses!

 

[koolcatshelby]

Great savings here too Your plans sound great. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Blueyed Girl]

That is great!! What an awesome savings

Great goals for MK

I do not care for Stitch ride either. Does nothing for me. DS has never seen Country Bear Jamboree, might have to hit that up once just so he can see it

I was really surprised I was able to get it for the 6 nights we already had.

It's been so long since I've seen the bears. I'm sort of looking forward to it. I know it's old and sort of cheesy but it's been there FOREVER. I want dh and ds to see it.

great savings!!! The new deal worked for us too and we saved a boat load!!! Plus, we get to stay extra days now!!! I hope everything works out with Pirates and Princesses!

Yay! CONGRATS!! I bet I could have added the extra night but then I wouldn't have knocked off quite as much money. We are doing a cruise in June, so right now it's all about saving money rather than getting an extra night. If it weren't for the cruise, we would have TOTALLY added an extra night.

Great savings here too Your plans sound great. Can't wait to hear more.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
thank you.
Hopefully I will get another post up later today.

 

[Blueyed Girl]

The past few days I have come across several threads on the "strategies" boards from "newbies" asking many questions such as which resort is better than which and should we take the kiddo back to the hotel for a nap each day. Then it hit me, I don't think that I've ever really shared the "why's" of the way we do WDW. I just figured that most of you reading my TR's and PTR's already know most of the things that I know.....like tips & tricks and touring plans, etc. I was not even thinking that there could be "newbie's" reading my PTR because they are trying to learn the ropes. So, I have decided to pause for a minute from posting my next round of "park goals", to tell you how we roll.......

1.) RESORTS:

Our absolute favorite, (not that we've branched out very much) is Old Key West Resort. One day we'd like to make it to the Beach Club or try out the Polynesian resort. But for right now we are majorly enjoying everything about Old Key West. Why???? you ask. Well it's very simple....it works for us. We are in our mid to late 30's and we have a 4 year old. We can run with the youngsters, but we also like to kick back and relax.

We drive to WDW which means we have a car. At OKW, you can park practically right outside your door. That's a plus. Being as though we have our own vehicle with us, we don't have to rely on the busses.

Another reason we like it is because it is QUIET. We've never had a problem with noise or people letting their kids run around the resort unattended. It's completely laid back. After a day in the parks, it's so nice to have a place to come back to and RELAX.

A 1 bedroom villa at OKW:

comes with a king sized bed in a seperate bedroom. The fold out sofa bed is a queen size that DS gets all to himself...in a different room. We can get some privacy which should not be underestimated on a "vacation".

There is also a full sized kitchen at OKW. The only cooking we do is for breakfast since we do the dining plan every visit. We order a few groceries from Gardengrocer.com and our order is always there waiting for us when we arrive and there is never anything missing. I highly recommend them. Cooking a quick breakfast saves time in the mornings rather than hitting a crowded restaurant or waiting until you get to the park. (Except for our 1 breakfast at Crystal Palace each trip...it's tradition. more on this later)

Another favorite is the oversized garden jacuzzi tub. It is heaven after a long day in the parks!!

There is also a washer/dryer in the room. I don't make a habit of doing laundry on vacation. But there have been times when we've run out of clothes and this has come in handy!

Balcony!! When we go back to the resort for DS's nap, DH and I usually sit on the balcony with a couple of drinks and just relax, visit, & people watch. We are refreshed and ready for round 2 at the parks by the time DS wakes up.

I realize that this resort may not be for everyone but we keep chosing it because it just works for us. We usually have a great time each trip without getting too worn out. We love it!! We tried Port Orleans Riverside in May of this year. While we loved the theming and the resort activities going on around there, the rooms were just too cramped for us. We like to spread out and be able to do our own thing while DS is sleeping. Besides, we can go and enjoy activities and restaurants at other resorts even though we are staying at OKW.

Here are a few pic's of OKW.....

Next up....How I roll ~ Park Strategies

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Oho my goodness! You should totally be a commerical!!

You made OKW sound heavenly!!

Are you DVC owners? Someday, hopefully soon, we'll be DVC owners. I love the idea of spreading out! Having room for the kiddos to move and not trip over things!

For now I'll stick to my deluxe resort vacations until DH realizes that it's more cost effective to buy DVC!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Oho my goodness! You should totally be a commerical!!

You made OKW sound heavenly!!

Are you DVC owners? Someday, hopefully soon, we'll be DVC owners. I love the idea of spreading out! Having room for the kiddos to move and not trip over things!

For now I'll stick to my deluxe resort vacations until DH realizes that it's more cost effective to buy DVC!

Thanks.

We are not DVC owners. We keep trying to justify the cost but still can't really make it seem worth it due to our vacation habits. I think we still come out better just paying out of pocket each year.

One more thing I forgot to mention.... OKW is the cheapest priced DVC resort AND the rooms are the largest. It's a win/win situation!

 

[englishrose47]

Just awesome Blue !!